Facade grant program offered for second year

The front of Jackie's Place, a live music venue at 607 E. Washington Drive, shows how facade grant money can be used in targeted areas.
Special | HPE

HIGH POINT —

The second round of a city-led initiative to assist small businesses in older neighborhoods with improvements to their building exteriors is underway.
The City Project is accepting applications for its facade grant program.
Properties that are used for retail purposes in the 11-square-mile core city area can seek grants of up to $5,000 for improvements such as removing aluminum or false facades, repairing or replacing windows, painting, signage or reappointing brick masonry.
“Last year, painting, awnings, windows and signage — those were the big things,” said Wendy Fuscoe, executive director of The City Project, the public-private partnership that guides the redevelopment of the core city.
“It’s a simple application, and then I’ll call the facade grant committee. We invite the applicant to come in and address the committee. Then, they make their recommendation that day, so we can let (the applicant) know the next day.”
The total grant funding available through the program is $29,000.
The city allocated $25,000 for the grants and ElectriCities, the public power cooperative of which High Point is a member, contributed $4,000.
The City Project awarded eight grants last year totalling $22,700.
The grant recipients invested a total of $362,742 of their own funds to match the grant money. Fuscoe said the recipients must match their grant award with an equal amount of their own investment. The grants are paid on a reimbursement basis after the work is finished on a project.
“If the work they want to do is $10,000, once they give me invoices that they paid out $10,000, we write them a check for $5,000. So, it’s very clean and simple,” Fuscoe said.
Preference will be shown toward applicants who are on the city’s electrical grid. Applications will be accepted through Aug. 15.
Applications can be downloaded from The City Project’s website, www.high-point.net/CityProject/investing_here.html. They also can be obtained by contacting Fuscoe at wendy.fuscoe@highpointnc.gov or at 883-8547.
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